De La Salle wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries in its first game against former head coach Aldin Ayo after humiliating University of Santo Tomas, 99-72, in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament.
The Green Archers recovered from their 67-61 loss to University of the Philippines and cruised to their third win in four games to improve to a 3-2 and stay well within the top half of the ladder.
UST, meanwhile, dropped their third straight game and fell to 1-4 record, tying University of the East at the bottom of the standings.
Ayo led the Green Archers to the 2016 title right after he streeted Letran to the NCAA championship the year prior.
La Salle went firing as early as the first quarter taking a 28-17 lead heading into the second and never looking back one bit.
“The primary game plan is to play 40 minutes of composed basketball, 40 minutes of being at the highest level,” said La Salle head coach Louie Gonzales. “It’s a good thing that everybody contributed and played at the highest level until the final buzzer.”
Justine Baltazar had a career-high 22 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks for La Salle while Aljun Melecio had 19 points, 17 in the first half, and eight rebounds.
Andrei Caracut added 13 points to the Green Archers’ cause while Jolo Go and Santi Santillan had 11 points apiece.
Renzo Subido led the Tigers with 16 points while Marvin Lee and Zachary Huang had 13 points apiece.
UST’s center Steve Akomo was out of the game due to food poisoning.